Park Theatre

3519 Golden Gate Way,

Lafayette,
CA94549

Hey all! There’s a new movement going on now to Save the Park!
Please check out the blog and sign the petition:
www.parktheaterlafayette.wordpress.com
Glad to have found this site and all of the past comments by like minded folks!

Latest update: the alleged current owner of the theater is having a feasibility study done as
to if the Park can reopen and what it would take after being shuddered and not maintained in that time.

It can be done but it’s got to be done the right way and I pray this guy is not an egomaniac and has some knowledge of how the business works. I just can’t see and hope I never do see the marquee ablaze with “Twilight Eclipse” as the route they go because that just won’t work there.

Does anyone know what’s happening with this theatre or who the owners are? It’s been empty for a long time and it’s not listed on the market for lease or sale. I love the property and would really like to see something happen with it. If anyone has information I’d love to know.

I met with city officials last year to look into reopening the Park. The city is all for it and will even allocate funds for exterior improvements, however the greedy scheister land owner isn’t budging. He bought the Park and talked just the right talk to appease folks about conversion to nightclubs or dinner theatre. Then he bought the apartment building just behind the theatre. Then he submitted a plan to the city to knock them both down for commercial use, or housing use. He can’t meet the parking requirements so the city wont allow him to proceed, so he’s just letting it sit there and deteriorate until it hopefully falls down or ends up in such a state of disrepair that the city won’t object to him just knocking it down and building just what lafayette needs…::sigh:: more Starbucks or townhouse space. You should ask the city where the guy lives and take a leak on his front door.

Is it possible to try to save this Theater with the help of the City of Lafayette? Could a non-profit foundation be set up to purchase the theater and continue its use as such?
Barry Hunau
38 year resident of Lafayette who loves this theater

Lived in Walnut Creek in early ‘50s, remember, as a kid, going with older Sis 'n Bro to the Park to watch 'Quo Vadis'when it first came out. Thought it nicer than the little W.C. 'house’. Of course the “Orinda” had them both beat on ‘Facades’ & Interiors!

DKelley – if you love it some much why don’t you inject thousands of dollars into it. You are foolish to think that much money is made off of these small theaters, especially with 80-90% of ticket revenues going to production companies.

The Park Theatre is a classic but its owner sadly refuses to spend any money on it. It has a lovely tower marquee with some operable neon, but where the neon has died over the years now is a valahlla of duct tape and cracked paint. The theatre does boast Dolby Stereo Sound, but it is one of the original Dolby Stereo systems of the 1980s…a CP55 processor for those in the film business. It still uses a 2 projector “change-over” system which is nearly unheard of now-a-days, but that combined with its lobby provides a sense of classicness that is lacking in most operating original theatres. Somehow, it wouldn’t be fitting to see a big DTS digital disc preview roll in before an art film here. If the owner of this theatre would spend a 10th the money here in one shot that he has spent in his obsession antique show in the alameda point naval base show, the theatre would do a great business. Sadly, the owner here views it as some kind of cash cow not worthy of even a coat of paint. The ownership of this theatre has also made enemies of Paramount Picture and Sony Picture companies thereby making it harder in this competitive business. I would ask anyone who cares for the continuation of this theatre to go to the Oakland Grand Lake theatre and ask why they can’t spend a dime on the park…its really a sad state of aaffairs.

Saw the film “Insomnia” here two weeks ago. Excellent projection and sound. Auditorium has a lot of red curtains. Lobby area small. Does have ticket booth in center of front entryway. Theater mostly shows first-run art fare.